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Wednesday, March 13, 2024

March Challenge Mid-Month Check in

Hello blogland friends!  I have been out browsing blogs and noticed a few Chookshed Stitchers are once again early on their challenge goal finishes.  It is almost mid-month, so here is the linky party if you want to join in.


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter



As for me, I have two finishes for March  hooray!  They are not my Chookshed Challenge goals, but I am super excited.

Quilted and Bound I present to you (drum roll please) Elephant Celestial Stars.  








Second March finish:  Blooms of Color is shown above.  I will show a better photo when I can take it in daylight hours.

I am thinking that two of my grand daughters will receive these quilts.  I absolutely love the quilting my local quilter did on them.  Thanks, CC.

How am I doing on my March Chookshed goals, you might wonder?  I have a good start on piecing Cross My  Heart, and I plan to get quite a lot done on it at a local weekend retreat.

As far as my Chicken Soup panel, the other half of my goal,  I am still undecided on how to finish it.  My goal is just to cut it out.  Once I make up my mind, cutting can be done in an afternoon.



Little princess had a birthday party recently and my daughter went all out with decorations and food.




Here are my grands minus little princess.  We are also getting a new one in the fall.  Hooray!








The party guests could wear a set of fairy wings or a garden gnome hat and beard.










Monday, March 11, 2024

BOM/RR blocks completed and 15 Minutes

 Dollar Building Block (BOMs) are done for March as well as my three round robin blocks.  They were all pretty fun!










$BB with the rest of the blocks they go with:









15 Minutes Report:

I am also still hanging onto 100% for 2024 on sewing at least 15 minutes a day.






Tuesday, March 5, 2024

PHD update and trying new techniques

At my last retreat I began sewing these tea pot blocks. The handles are still wrapped up awaiting the right time to sew them up.


Here are a stack of blocks in progress. 


The tea cups are ready to sew as well. They were supposed to have stars on them,  but I redrew the pattern for hearts instead. They have fewer pieces. 


Love the journal pages I made for this quilt.




This week I am working on my Dollar Building Blocks.  The technique we need to use involves sandwiching little bits of fabric scraps and yarn between Badgemaster water soluble sheets.  The next step involves heavy, close stitching through the Badgemaster using a thread painting technique.  Basically you are sewing all of those bits of fabric together.  The Badgemaster washes out in water and then you have a new collage of fabric to piece or applique' with.

Three of my blocks will be a wonky house where the roof will be made from fabric created by this technique.  The 4th one will be a pineapple.  I am anxious to see how it all turns out.



Here it is with the stabilizer washed away.


PHD Challenge update:


In order to earn my PHD, I need to finish twelve WiPs and finish every new start this year excluding blocks of the month that roll into the next year and December starts.

Well, it doesn't look too great seeing as how I finished one quilt in January and started 2 new ones this year not to mention a couple of new BOMs that will extend into 2025. On a good note, however, I do have two tops ready to take to the quilter.  One is a new start this year and the other a WIP.  Numbers should look better the end of March.  Also, I made all the blocks for #2 WIP making it pretty close to a finish.







Monday, March 4, 2024

15 Minutes and March goals

Plans for March:


There are a few things I hope to accomplish in the sewing room this March. These are in addition to my Chookshed Challenge #4 and One Monthly Goal. They are mostly BOMs.


Make the Wellington Boat Shed row for my NZ/Aussie Memory Quilt.  These should have been done in February, so I am trying to catch up.  Here is the paper piecing pattern I created.  


Here is a real photo of what I am trying to replicate.


Piece the Moda Love blocks and my friends' campers in the Camp Cypress, Baradine Camp Ground.  Here is a pattern I purchased for it.  I plan to remove the surf board and change the tree.





Make two purple fish for the rainbow scrap challenge.


Piece my $ Building Block of the Months.  Here is a glimpse of the cute journal pages I made for all four of them:


It is a "create your fabric from bitty bits" type of a block.  I plan to make wonky houses with the roofs made out of the bitty bits.  One block will be a pineapple made out of them.  Here is my pineapple design.


Journal pages I will fill in as I go...





For the Let's Bake Block of the Month I hope to make a jar of jam, a jar of honey, table cloth, and a mason jar used as a flower vase.  They are all Lori Holt patterns.  I am making these in leu of some hand embroidered flowers in gingham.  I liked them better.


Make three round robin blocks.  One is a car applique', another is an Americana fabric star, the other is sort of like a pineapple log cabin block.  They are laid out in the photo below along with my Chookshed March projects in their bags.








I didn't link up last week because it was short with no time to sew on the weekend.

This week I hope to:

1.  Make all four of my $ building blocks 
2.  Make three round robin blocks


I have continued to keep my sewing room organized by only getting out the exact parts of the projects I hope to accomplish in this week.
  

And here they are neatly stacked in the rack...



What are your sewing plans for the week?